


For you will still be here tomorrow

by ShariDeschain



Series: Future AU [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman and Robin (Comics)
Genre: #batfamcontentwar, Angst, Father-Son Relationship, Future Fic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-12-27 01:16:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12070737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShariDeschain/pseuds/ShariDeschain
Summary: He had once told Damian that over the years he had become more similar to Dick than he had ever been to Talia, or even Bruce himself.





	For you will still be here tomorrow

He had once told Damian that over the years he had become more similar to Dick than he had ever been to Talia, or even Bruce himself. He remembers the stunned look he got back, and the twitch of Damian’s mouth when he failed to produce an answer to something he didn’t know how to take, if as a compliment or an accusation. In the end Damian had just clicked his tongue at him, but there had been surprise in his son’s eyes, Bruce remembers. And pride. So much pride.

Bruce had meant it in a good way then. But he knew, like Damian knew, like _Dick_ knew, that there was also a bad side to it. The temper. The anger. The inevitability of the fights that they’ll have to face only because they were who they were, and too stubborn to ever back down. It was never that complicated with Tim or Jason.

He’s reminded of it now, with Damian standing a few feet from him, red faced and body as tight as a violin string, the echo of their raised voice still rumbling through the cave, disturbing the bats colony over their heads. At seventeen, Damian’s resemblance to Bruce is stronger than ever, and yet all Bruce sees right now, in front of him, is Dick. Dick, a long, long time ago. Dick, angry at nothing and everything at the same time. Dick, getting more and more frustrated with the role of Batman’s son. Dick, suddenly so ready to walk out on him.

Bruce doesn’t remember the exact moment he realized that the same thing was going to happen with Damian too, but he knows he’s been waiting for a while now. Resigned himself to the idea of it happening. But, by god, it’s not going to be tonight. It’s not going to be because of this.

“You’re not listening to me, Damian”, he tries again, and he sounds almost imploring to his own ears. But Damian laughs, and it’s an ugly, broken thing. Too similar to the way Jason used to laugh when he came back from death, before he reconciled with life again.

“I listen, Father”, Damian answers with a choked voice. “I do nothing else than listen. But you are the one who’s not listening now. You are the one who’s refusing to hear the truth. There isn’t another way.”

“There is always another way.”

Damian laughs again, and his eyes are red and tired and a little crazy.

“You always say that. It’s so easy for you, isn’t it? What do you have to lose after all?”

“Everything”, Bruce answers. “You.”

Damian only shakes his head.

“But you will not lose me, not for real”, he hums. “Isn’t it the whole damn point? If we lose tonight, maybe you die, probably you don’t. But I _definitely_ don’t. Grandfather will make sure of it. He needs me alive to take possession of my body and make it his own.”

“Ra’s is not going to win.”

Damian only smiles this time. And that smile is not Dick, or Bruce. That smile is not Robin, or Batman, or a Teen Titan. That smile is a lifetime spent with a head full of legends and superstitions and stories about blood legacies and great destinies. That smile is Talia. That smile is Al Ghul.

“Of course he will. Maybe not this time, sure. Maybe not the next one either. But eventually he will, Father. Eventually, he always wins. That’s the only thing I know to be true about him.”

It hurts, but it hurts in the wrong place. There are so many questions on Bruce’s lips. That’s something not even the ten years old Damian would’ve said all those years ago, when he first came to look for his father’s help. He thought Bruce could win over his Grandfather, then. He thought Batman was the one who would always win, eventually. When did that change?

“I wish you had the same faith in me, Damian”, Bruce admits. Because he’s tired, because he’s old. Because sometimes he feels like he never really figured it out how to be a father to his kids, and nights like this one are the most painful proof.

“I do have faith in you”, Damian answers. “But I also know you, and I know what you will do if tonight Grandfather will be successful in taking possession of my body. And that is _nothing_. You will let him- you will let him _wear me_ like a glove and you will do _nothing_ about it. I’ll become another reminder of your failure, just like Jason’s memorial case. You’ll let him go, and he’ll come back and you’ll keep fighting him, and you’ll see me - _my face_ , _my body_ \- but you’ll go on because that’s what you do. You go on.”

Bruce can count on one hand the times he’s ever seen Damian cry. But he knows how it happens. It always starts softly, with shaking fists and very few tears. No sobs, only severed breath and gritted teeth. He reaches out to grab his son’s shoulders, but Damian shrugs him off in something that is not quite anger anymore.

“And that’s okay”, Damian continues, rubbing his eyes. His voice is also soft, and Bruce finds himself longing to have the angry, combative yells of half an hour ago back. “That’s okay because that’s what you are and I understand that, Father. But I can’t allow it. I just can’t. Because it’s going to be _my hands_. Do you understand that? My mind won’t be there, but it’s still going to be my hands fighting you, and Dick, and everyone else. I’ll be dead, but for you it’s going to be _me_. I’m going to be your enemy. All these years, all the things I’ve done, and I’ll still end up being your enemy. Do you understand that? _Can you understand that?_ ”

His voice shakes the whole time, but it only breaks around the few the last words. Bruce clenches his fists.

“Yes”, he lies. “And that’s why I’ll never let it happen, Damian. I promise you.”

He reaches out for him again, and this time Damian doesn’t reject him, although Bruce suspects it’s more out of exhaustion than trust. He doesn’t care. He pulls Damian to his chest and he holds him there, one hand buried into his short hair, lips pressed against his temple.

“I want to believe you”, Damian mumbles into his neck. “But I know this can only end in two ways. Either he kills me, or I kill him.”

Bruce can’t help but stiffen at that, and he knows that Damian senses it because his son stiffens too, going rigid into his hold.

“And either way, I lose you”, Damian acknowledges bitterly.

Bruce thinks of Jason and closes his eyes.

“No”, he answers a moment later. “No, you won’t. Because there is _always_ another way, Damian. Tell me you know that.”

Damian sighs and raises his arms to finally hug him back, but doesn’t answer.

**Author's Note:**

> Here, have some completely gratuitous father&son angst. You can blame @camsthisky and her #batfamcontentwar for it. Also if you thought that I was listening to Cat Steven's Father&Son while writing this you'd be 200% correct. That song, oh god.


End file.
